The ability to locate and track assets, such as devices, products, persons, or equipment, is important in many applications and industries. For example, hospitals may wish to track medical equipment and personnel to ensure timely response to emergency situations, manufacturers may wish to track parts in an assembly plant, and warehouses may wish to track supplies. The ability to locate and track assets helps to ensure proper and efficient use of assets in these and other environments,
In some applications, assets may be located and tracked using a real-time locating system (RTLS). For example, a wireless tag may be attached to an asset, and one or more fixed network components, such as access points or base stations, may receive wireless signals from the wireless tags to determine the location of the asset. The wireless signals may be received periodically, allowing the location of the asset to be determined dynamically in real-time. Thus, while a location of an asset may change quickly and often in a particular environment, the locating system is provided with real-time updates of the location of the asset.
As noted above, locating systems are provided in a variety of different environments. Today, locating systems measure and present the performance (e.g. accuracy) of the positioning of an asset in units, such as in meters or feet. However, the importance of a particular accuracy level in locating an asset may vary depending on the application of a locating system in a particular environment. For example, improving accuracy by seventy-five percent (e.g., a positioning accuracy of ten centimeters rather than forty centimeters) may not make a significant difference in a hospital environment, and it may not be worth an additional investment to improve the positioning accuracy in such an environment. By contrast, in a system used to locate small items in a store, improving accuracy by seventy-five percent (e.g., accuracy to fifty centimeters rather than two meters) may significantly reduce the searching time to find an item, because there may hundreds of items placed within a small area. Current locating systems do not account for different application environments when providing positioning performance information.
Accordingly, an improved approach to calculating and presenting performance (e.g. accuracy, latency, throughput, etc.) information of a locating system is needed. Methods and systems consistent with the disclosed embodiments address one or more of the problems set forth above.